Elderly sex offender taken into custody

An elderly man convicted of 13 child sex offences has been taken into custody ahead of his Supreme Court sentencing this week.

A jury recently found William John Keith Ellis, 76, guilty of seven counts of buggery and six of indecent assault involving four boys who lived at the Eden Park boys home in the Adelaide Hills in the 1960s and 70s.

The former Salvation Army worker was taken to hospital instead of jail after suffering a fit as the verdicts were read.

He returned to court today to hear his victims describe how the abuse had devastated their lives, three of them saying they had attempted suicide.

"I just thought it would be easier not to be alive any more," one said.

"I had my dreams taken away from me and replaced with the nightmares of my childhood."

Another said he had only recently learnt that there were other victims.

"Now at this stage in my life, for the first time, there is a real possibility that I can get rid of the guilt that I carried with me all my life," the court was told.

'Regime of violence'

The victim impact statements revealed a regime of violence and abuse in the Salvation Army-run home at Wistow, near Mount Barker.

"Fears and nightmares still haunt me about the terrible savage beatings at the hands of Sergeant Ellis," one victim said.

"I'm unable to forget the screams of the other boys as I witnessed their beatings.

"The abuse I suffered as a child has been a secret I've kept all my life. I know that it doesn't have to be a secret any more.

"The guilty charge has restored some of my faith in humankind."

Another described feelings of helplessness at being unable to escape the abuse.

"You knew that there was no way that you could get away from it," he said.

"When you are told day after day you're no good, you start to believe it and you lose your spirit."

Prosecutor Sandi McDonald said the abuse was at the higher end of the scale because the boys had no family they could turn to for support.

"One cannot imagine a more horrendous abuse of trust," she said.

"These children had no-one."

Defence lawyer Robert Kane told the court Ellis knows the judge has no choice but to send him to jail, even though he will probably die in custody.

Mr Kane said there was no medical reason to prevent Ellis from going to prison.

"There is a very strong likelihood that any sentence that you honour imposes may well be a life sentence," he said.